RPS Superintendent's Update

Dear RPS Community,

We have certainly had a busy first few weeks of school. It has been fantastic to see our students engaged in such a wide variety of learning experiences so early in the year in classes, assemblies, extra/co-curricular activities, athletics, and community service/engagement. We remain focused on making authentic connections between the various learning experiences and the “real world” as often as possible so that our students understand why we do what we do each day. As I visit various classrooms, I continue to be impressed by the quality responses that students of all ages give when I ask “what are you learning today and why is it important?” When students know the why behind the work, the what has more impact because they have a sense of purpose. I applaud our teachers for ensuring that our students’ learning experiences are purposeful and authentic.

As we continue to update and improve our safety and security protocols, we must also regularly educate and train our students and staff on these protocols. As such, during the week of October 2nd, in partnership with the RPD, the District will be holding school evacuation drills. These controlled drills will allow us to practice evacuating all students and staff off campus to predetermined locations. In preparing for these drills, we will consider the individual needs of students and staff who may need to be accommodated in some manner. This is important work as ensuring the health and safety of our learning community members is our highest charge. I am thankful for the ongoing partnerships with our police and fire departments, as well as the commitment of our staff to ensuring that we are providing a safe educational environment for all.

As I mentioned in my last update, The District Leadership Team (DLT) spent the summer developing our draft Strategy for District Improvement (SDI) which includes updated mission, vision, core values, theory of action, & strategic objectives (big rocks) based on the great work done by the community and staff during the superintendent entry plan process last year. Here is a link to the new RPS Strategy for District Improvement. This is also available on our website. We have already begun to connect our professional development, instructional practices, and programming to the strategy. Our school councils will be meeting soon to develop the school based strategic priorities that will provide us with a roadmap for output and outcome based evidence of the work that will support implementation of the strategy. Thank you to all of the stakeholders who will be serving on the school councils this year.

Email: mbranco@rpk12.org
Website: rpk12.org/
Location: 32 Jerdens Lane, Rockport, MA, USA
Phone: (978)546-1200
Twitter: @Mark_Branco